"All this region is very level and full of forests, vines and butternut trees. No Christian has ever visited this land and we had all the misery of the world trying to paddle the river upstream." Samuel de Champlain

The Deputy Premier, Minister of Natural Resources and Wildlife and Minister responsible for the Northern Plan, Nathalie Normandeau, and the Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks, Pierre Arcand, today announced a series of actions the government of Québec will be implementing to ensure sustainable development of the shale gas industry.

What I did not write in my blog that day (I am, now, 2 years later) is that Normandeau had to go through the crowd to get to the podium, and most of us were opponents to her plans, so she was progressing very slowly, coming from behind. There were body guards and police everywhere.

In a crowd, I am always looking out for trouble, so I quickly moved away from her so she could go by, but a young man in front of me did not realize what was going on, so she touched his arm to get his attention and so he would let her go by.

When I saw her put her hand on the boy's arm, I shouted out very loudly "Touche-le pas! Touche-le pas!" - don't you dare touch him! Most of the people around me did not understand my outrage, but to me, it was almost rape.

I'm the second generation of my family that lives in Richelieu, Quebec, in Canada. My family tree, both from my mother's and my father's side, has its roots in Quebec since the beginning of the 1600s: my ancestors crossed the ocean from France, leaving Perche and Normandy behind them. Both French AND English are my mother tongues: I learned to talk in both languages when I was a baby, and both my parents were perfectly bilingual too.